Inside the Capital Stack: Putting the Regional Guidelines for Digital Infrastructure Financing to Work A Blended Finance Deep Dive
Information
Lunch will be provided.
Organised by: Digital Investment Facility (DIF) part of Data Governance in Africa - Team Europe Initiative
In partnership with: Smart Africa and Convergence Blended Finance
At ITW Africa, Smart Africa and DIF launched the Regional Guidelines for Digital Infrastructure Financing, a shared framework for making Africa’s digital backbone investable. This session puts that framework to the test on a real deal.
You will get the prime chance to have a presentation of the guideline as well as hear from experts in the field such as EBRD, Finnfund, Connectivity Capital as well as Nokia about what really constitutes as a bankable project.
There is also a training segment in which we take one transaction from the DIF pipeline and work through its capital stack layer by layer, using real figures. You will see where senior debt, mezzanine and equity sit, where concessional capital and guarantees come in, and how each layer changes debt service coverage and, in the end, whether the deal can be financed at all.
The session also tackles a question the market often avoids: when is blended finance doing real structural work, and when is it simply cheaper money? We look at what concessional capital is actually solving, whether that is currency mismatch, risk the market won’t price, or tenors that commercial lenders won’t offer. We then compare the results with the EU’s financing strategy, showing how EU-backed DFI mechanisms are already delivering targeted outcomes.
Session objectives
- Break down the capital stack. Take a DIF pipeline transaction apart tranche by tranche: senior debt, mezzanine, equity, and the points where concessional finance and guarantees enter.
- Show the numbers. Use real figures to demonstrate how guarantees and concessional tranches change debt service coverage and bankability.
- Benchmark against EU strategy. Compare outcomes with the EU’s financing strategy and show EU-backed DFI mechanisms already delivering targeted results.
- Separate structure from subsidy. Distinguish genuine structural blended finance (addressing currency mismatch, de-risking and tenor extension) from capital that is simply cheaper.
- Carry the Guidelines forward. Position DIF, Smart Africa and Convergence as credible voices in blended finance, building on the Day 0 launch of the Regional Guidelines for Digital Infrastructure Financing at ITW Africa.
Who should attend
The session is aimed at data centre, fibre and connectivity developers, DFIs, commercial lenders, infrastructure investors and fund managers, and public-sector and regulatory stakeholders working on digital infrastructure financing in Africa.
Format